The company also says it will provide "good, transparent and inclusive governance to avoid fragmentation," which means that, unlike Android, it doesn't want lots of versions floating around on multiple devices.

Stay of execution

The announcement represents yet another stay of execution for the Palm-built operating system, which HP acquired for a whopping $1.2 billion in April 2010.

This summer the company announced that it would be ceasing all WebOS operations following the abject failure of the HP TouchPad and HP Pre 3 smartphone to gain traction in the marketplace.

HP currently employs 600 people in its WebOS division and their fate remains to be seen. For now though, WebOS lives to fight another day.